Dodging the cancer bullet doesn’t motivate survivors to exercise

You might think people who have survived a cancer scare would be inspired to take care of themselves, but that’s not the case according to a study in the July 1 issue of Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society.

The findings come from a study of 114,355 Canadian cancer survivors which showed that having a cancer diagnosis didn’t significantly prompt them to improve their lifestyle.

Even though physical activity has been shown to have a positive effect on recovery and disease outcomes, and obesity has been linked to poor outcomes in cancer survivor groups, less than 22 percent of the survivors in the Canadian study were physically active and over 18 percent were obese.

If you’d like to learn more about the link between exercise and cancer, visit the National Cancer Institute’s fact sheet on the subject.

If you’re a cancer survivor, you don’t need to be as inactive and overweight as everyone else. You’ve got so much to gain by exercising.